am delighted with the law of God,
according to the inward man; but I see another law in my members,
fighting against the law of my mind, and captivating me under the law
of sin that is in my members."*

* Rom. vii. 22.

What a tyranny this law of sin exercises over the will, even of holy
persons! How often do they discover, on close examination, that their
will has departed from the eternal rule, which is the will of God!
How often do they find that they had been seeking their own, instead
of God's glory! After doing really great things, which they fancied
were done purely for God, they find, to their grief, that, to a great
extent, they had been secretly and artfully seeking themselves, and
their own glory. And they have reason to fear that they have already
received their reward in that human applause which they sought, or in
which they took such complacency when it came unsought.

It is said that persons who have been bitten by a viper, and who have
nevertheless recovered by the application of timely remedies, are
never again the same in health as they were before. At times they are
swollen, or feel acute pains, or have a morbid and depraved appetite
for what they should not eat. At other times they feel a general
languor, which takes away all their energy, so that whatever they do
requires a most painful effort. Evidently, some of the poison is
still lurking in their system, and so long as it remains there these
infirmities will never be entirely healed.

So it is with us, in a moral point of view. Our human nature was
bitten and poisoned by the infernal serpent, in the earthly paradise,
and although a powerful antidote was given us in the Redemption, some
of the venom remained in us; and as long as we live here below, we
shall feel its effects. We shall always feel the sting of
concupiscence, and retain an inclination to evil, to seek ourselves
inordinately, and to follow our own will. We shall always experience
a certain languor in the practice of virtue, which involves a
continual effort and struggle.

What an exquisite consolation it is to us to be assured that none of
this poison will follow us into heaven! Yes, the day will
come--blessed and glorious day!--when all that perversity of will,
all that inclination to evil, and all the passions of our depraved
nature will be no more! All these will die in our temporal death, and
be buried--never to rise again in our glorified bodies. The Beatific
Vision wil